Metro News & Reviews

Bike path along I-405 will be closed Oct 21 – Nov 30

Attention all cyclists: the bike path along the west side of the southbound I-405 from Waterford St. to Constitution Ave. will be closed from Monday, Oct. 21 to Saturday, Nov. 30 due to construction of a drainage system at Waterford/Church.

Construction will require excavation, saw cutting of the sidewalk and potholing for utilities.

The detour route for cyclists is: north on Church Lane, right to eastbound Montana, right to southbound Sepulveda, and right to westbound Constitution.

The detour routes for pedestrians is: north on Church Lane, left on Sunset, left on Barrington, left on San Vicent, and left on Wilshire.

I’m glad these repeated closures are finally getting some publicity on The Source.

Apart from the obvious dangers of transferring bicyclists from a protected path to the non-existent shoulder of a high-speed road (Sepulveda), I would like to point out the following:

1) The cyclist detour above is given only for the southbound direction. What about the northbound direction? This requires crossing Sepulveda at Constitution, but during past closures bicyclists have had NO WAY to activate the loop detector to get a green signal there. The only option in the past has been to wait for a car to arrive, or else cross on a red signal. This can’t be legal.

2) The pedestrian detour above is utterly absurd. It replaces a 5-minute walk by a 1-hour walk. For this reason, it can’t possibly be compliant with ADA regulations.

All such comments to Metro in the past have fallen on deaf ears. This has got to change. We’re talking about a 6-week closure that deprives pedestrians and cyclists of a critical link between Brentwood and Westwood.

Thank you for posting this on the source! As a user of that bikepath, it has been so frustrating having to go there in person to see if it is open or not, and then, when it isn’t, having to use one of the take-your-life-in-your-hands/near-death-experience “detours”. (S on Sepulveda from Montana to Constitution? OMG).

From the perspective of those of us coming/going from/to the south, it would be nice if metro could give us a viable alternative to crossing the 405. It would be helpful, for example, if the sidewalks along the south side of Wilshire were not also closed at the same time as this bike path closure.
Or, in our dream of dreams, somehow the gate between the cemetery and veteran @ constitution could be opened.